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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23509105">The Princess and the Soldier</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thimblerig/pseuds/Thimblerig'>Thimblerig</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Tenner [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambiguous/Open Ending, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fic &amp; Podfic, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Rain, Sound Effects, Vignette</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 12:28:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>332</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23509105</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thimblerig/pseuds/Thimblerig</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Day 5 - Before the Storm</em>
</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>The Flower Princess (OC)/The Top-Knotted Soldier (OC)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Tenner [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1680610</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Tenner</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p> </p><p>
  <strong>The Princess and the Soldier</strong>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>“Before the storm,” the princess said sadly, “I was going to travel to the Star of the Mountains, the Lotus City, the Enclosure of Seven Walls, and marry the Emperor in his tall house.” She sneezed into her long, full sleeve. Her knee-length hair was dripping.</p><p>The soldier was short and stocky, and her quilted armour dripped steadily; her top-knotted hair was sodden under its cloth kerchief. Black eyes watched the princess, inscrutable, intent. “Before the storm,” said she, <em>“I</em> was travelling to the border, to fight the barbarians in the mountains, and storm their high flower city.”</p><p>“Humph!” said the princess.</p><p>The soldier shrugged. It was dark in the cave, and the rain outside poured thunderous loud and the thunders fell multitudinous as rain. But there was a hearth there, also, for wayward travellers, and the soldier knelt by it, sparking little lightnings of flame with her quick, callused fingers.</p><p>She heard a tearing sound, and kept her head turned discreetly away as the princess ripped several layers of dry petticoat out from under her skirts. When the fire was well begun and burning small but brave against the night, the soldier turned and found a length of bright lustrous silk handed to her, folded like an exquisite flower, to use as a towel.</p><p>“I am a princess,” said the princess, “and it is not <em>proper</em> to sit with a lowly soldier, especially not a barbarian invader like you. But…”</p><p>The soldier dried her face and shifted, still kneeling, to make space.</p><p>They sat by the fire and listened to the rain.</p><p>Presently one said, “I have dates to eat, wrapped up well and dry.”</p><p>And the other said, “I have a comb, if you take down your ridiculous stubby coiffure.”</p><p>The rain fell down, drowning the world.</p><p>“This storm might last forever,” one said.</p><p>“I hope so,” said the other.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Programs Used: Audio Evolution; Logopit Plus; Music Editor</p><p>Cover image: https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Vector-graphics-of-swirling-petals-floral-design/34665.html </p><p>Music/FX: <br/>“Simple piano improvisation” by ValentinSosnitskiy - https://freesound.org/people/ValentinSosnitskiy/sounds/431520/ (CC BY 3.0)<br/>“Rain on Windowpane 2” by Owl - https://freesound.org/people/Owl/sounds/187655/ (CC BY 3.0)<br/>"05_Flint and steel.wav" by 16FThumaF_Fire https://freesound.org/people/16FThumaF/sounds/499027/ (CC0) <br/>“Thunder Long 1” by Samulis - https://freesound.org/people/Samulis/sounds/242015/ (CC0)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Podfic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<hr/><p>Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FOgLbKiKJwkqfySTRhfHrr9w1g3LzniV/view?usp=drivesdk">here</a> to stream or download :-) </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Format: MP3<br/>
Length: 3.26<br/>
Size: 6.07 MB</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
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